Yeeeeeah Boy! Ohio State's unbelievable trio are GONE. All three will enter the NBA draft. Sure, OSU has 4 more very talented players coming in, but they will not even come close to the team they had this past season.

Interesting how this will impact the rest of the BT. Who's the favorite in the BT now? wink wink

Not all signed with agents though :(

But, Oden - duh; Conley - should; Cook - supposed to hate school, Matta, and Columbus; so there is a shot.

State fans can be excited all they want. Michigan fans still see an Ohio State lineup with far more talent than exists in Ann Arbor, for now. I'm not celebrating any time soon. They've also got a star-studded class coming in the following year as well. They actually NEEDED some of these guys to leave in order to be able to honor 08 scholarships.

Piston fans can celebrate as well.

Yeeeeeah Boy! Ohio State's unbelievable trio are GONE. All three will enter the NBA draft. Sure, OSU has 4 more very talented players coming in, but they will not even come close to the team they had this past season.

Interesting how this will impact the rest of the BT. Who's the favorite in the BT now? wink wink
Oden is gone but the dealio on Conley is that if he isn't Top 10 he's sticking around until he is. He can do this because his Pops also can act as his agent without the paper trail. Cook? Nice player. If he's a fucking dope and doesn't like school let him go play in Europe. However from what I've read he is not going to get an agent either. What'd the guy average? 6.9 a game? Who the fuck is gonna' blaze a trail to his luxury apartment. I'm thinkin' he'll be back. Me? I'd go to Europa if I wasn't going to class. He probably won't ask ME though.

History tells us that "hasn't hired an agent" just means "will hire an agent soon after the draft." I've heard so many of these kids say they aren't going to hire an agent, but once they get a sniff of the real world (without classes), with much more freedom, and much more green, they are GONE.

I think Oden and Conley are both gone for sure. Conley will be a lottery pick, he'll take that. If both are gone, will Cook really want to stay? I don't think so and even if he does, who cares.

I'm looking at this obviously from a MSU perspective. We were a shot away from beating the Buckeyes with all these guys. You take Oden away and probably Conley and I'm loving it. The freshmen coming in aren't nearly as talented and they aren't the type of group to be able to hang with upper classmen like this group could.

I'm loving my prediction of the BT title returning to East Lansing.

Piston fans can celebrate as well.

I agree. Oden just pushes one more talented player our way. Conley as well, unless we are lucky enough to get him ourselves.

Word is that Conley wants to go top 10 and will pull out if he is not offered a guarantee as such.

With Oden and Cook gone, not sure why he'd want to come back to an even younger OSU squad just because he went in the 11-16 range.

Cook = Marcus Taylor

Well, he could go anywhere from 8-10 to the Kings or 11-12 to the Hawks, otherwise he would slip down to the Clippers at 14. He he demands top 10, you are basically talking Sactown and that's it. He won't fall past 15 IMO, so he should say top 15 (we're at 15 anyway).

I think Conley would be a great pick for anyone. I couldn't believe how good he was this year and you could definately make an arguement that he was the best PG in the country. I think lottery is considered Top 13 picks now right? No way he goes back to college if he's picked between 11-13. I don't care what he says now.

Top 14 is lotto since Charlotte came in the league.

It would be really stupid if Conley was selected somewhere between picks 11-14 and he came back to college. He might raise his stock maaaaaaybe 3-4 picks. Size will always be drafted first and with much less talent on the OSU squad next year, his stock could slip.

Word on national sports talk radio today was that he was gone for sure. He's projected too high for it to even be a question in their opinion.

For the record, he can't decide to go back after he sees where he is picked, he has to withdraw by 6/18/07 and the draft is on 6/28/07.

He'll be operating on "we'll take you if you are there" promises made by GMs.

1) i dont see him slipping even to ten. i'd guess he goes 5th, but not much lower than that.

2) i agree with tre, very few guys entertain the thought of leaving, get all those millions in their head, and then turn around and stay. that probably never happens with froshys like conley.

3) i think conley could have potentially gone #1 overall next year. i do believe he is another chris paul type. still, after the big 4 (oden, durant, wright, and horford, i think your leaving alot on the table by drafting someone else over conley.

For the record, he can't decide to go back after he sees where he is picked, he has to withdraw by 6/18/07 and the draft is on 6/28/07.

He'll be operating on "we'll take you if you are there" promises made by GMs.

Oh, that's right. My bad. That's even better for us non-Buckeye fans. The NBA experts generally tell the guys they'll go higher than they actually do.

1) i dont see him slipping even to ten. i'd guess he goes 5th, but not much lower than that.

2) i agree with tre, very few guys entertain the thought of leaving, get all those millions in their head, and then turn around and stay. that probably never happens with froshys like conley.

3) i think conley could have potentially gone #1 overall next year. i do believe he is another chris paul type. still, after the big 4 (oden, durant, wright, and horford, i think your leaving alot on the table by drafting someone else over conley.

But who will take him that high? Phoenix has Nash, Seattle has Ridinour and Watson, Charlotte has Felton, Portland has Roy and Jack, Chicago has Hinrich and Gordon and Duhon. I don't see any destinations until Minnesota really, and they also need a true center as well. I still see Conley as the 8th-10th pick

I wonder if Indy or Atlanta would take him at #3?

It's possible. After the big two you have a lot of forwards there next. They don't really need forwards, so they might reach for a PG.

If I was an NBA general manager I'd draft David Stern. Who's gonna fuck with you when you got Da Commish in your lineup? Fucking guy would probably break every scoring record in history.
Plus he's Jewish, and that would HAVE to help him lead his team to the "Promised Land".
Hell, he could take out an axe and chop D Wades head off and claim the LAWD told him to make a human sacrifice!

The only flaw in my plan is that if Phoenix drafts Stern, and he turns into Moses.
It'd give a whole new meaning to the phrase "Lost in the desert for forty years".

Zip, you've gone off the deep end. Come back LOL

For the record, he can't decide to go back after he sees where he is picked, he has to withdraw by 6/18/07 and the draft is on 6/28/07.

He'll be operating on "we'll take you if you are there" promises made by GMs.
I just read some blurb that since Cook doesn't have an agent he can just ride along and see where he gets selected. If he don't likey he says fuck you and like Rodney does the "Back to School." The article referenced Randolph Morris who pretty much did the same thing and then made his dealio with the Knicks after the season was done, his senior year, because he didn't sign with whomever it was who picked him and became a free agent once his elgibility was up. I'm all confused over hea'.

I heard a rumor today that Jamar Butler is on the fence as to whether or not he should turn pro. It would be a huge blow if they lose Butler IMO seeing as how he is one of the few returning upperclassmen on the squad.

I just read some blurb that since Cook doesn't have an agent he can just ride along and see where he gets selected. If he don't likey he says fuck you and like Rodney does the "Back to School." The article referenced Randolph Morris who pretty much did the same thing and then made his dealio with the Knicks after the season was done, his senior year, because he didn't sign with whomever it was who picked him and became a free agent once his elgibility was up. I'm all confused over hea'.

I think how it goes is Cook can stay in until 6/18, at which time, since he has not signed an agent, he can withdraw if he doesn't like what NBA teams are telling him as far as his potential draft position. If he decides to stay in, he's in for good. That part didn't always appear to be the case, which you nailed with Randolph Morris. A quick wiki yielded:



College
After a solid debut in his first year at Kentucky, Morris decided to declare for the NBA draft but not hire an agent. He averaged 8.8 points per game and 4.2 rebounds. Despite playing well for Kentucky and starting every game but one, he did not prove himself NBA ready and often got in foul trouble. Morris went undrafted and decided to attempt a return to Kentucky. The NCAA agreed to reinstate him, but not before sitting out the first half of the 2005-2006 season. Morris returned to Kentucky in January 2006.

Pro career
Due to a loophole in the NBA and NCAA rules, Morris, who declared for the draft, was permitted by the NCAA to return to the college game, but the NBA's collective bargaining agreement prohibited his re-entry into a future draft, which legally made Morris an NBA free agent, who could be signed at any time by any team, and he could leave Kentucky in the middle of the season if he so desired.

Morris took advantage of being an NBA free agent, and signed a two-year, $1.6 million contract with the New York Knicks on March 23, 2007, 5 days after Kentucky's elimination from the NCAA Tournament.[3]

So the loophole allowed for players that committed to stay in the draft to return to college, but only if they went undrafted. I assume that loophole has since been closed, but I don't know that for sure.

I hope I don't lose a NBA credibility point with the speculative nature of this info, lol.

Solid explanation. That clears some shit up. Morris DID NOT get drafted. I think you're right in that the NBA has done away with this. I wonder who is in Cook's ear. Fuck him. Get him gone. 9 ppg and what 4-5 boards. He'll probably blow up in the absence of Oden & Conley and cash a bigger ticket if he comes back. Rooting for MSU in the Big 10 I'm all for him draggin' ass.

Marcus Taylor could have taken advantage of this had he not been selected in the late 2nd back in 2002 (I think).

Who would have thought that actually getting drafted was worse than not being drafted.

Marcus Taylor could have taken advantage of this had he not been selected in the late 2nd back in 2002 (I think).

Who would have thought that actually getting drafted was worse than not being drafted.

yeah no shit. Taylor as a junior would have been a great player. He led the BT in scoring and assists as a sophmore. That sure would have changed his life around had he been able to come back for two yrs.

But, it wouldn't have worked out because he already wore out his welcome. He was bangin' Torbert's gf and nobody on the team could stand him. I don't know why though, I'd love to play with a guy who has "All Eyez on Me" tatted on his back with his Dad at our MSU practices yelling instructions from the sideline, getting kicked out of the gym. Seems like a great teammate.